Category: General

Love wine? We are excitedly preparing a Wine Raffle for this year’s Peace, Love, Saklan auction, and we would love your help! Please consider donating a favorite bottle or two (rated 90 points or higher by Wine Spectator, Wine Advocate or Wine Enthusiast or valued at $30 or more) to this year’s collection.

Please bring your wine donations to the Saklan Office. Thank you for your support!

#PeaceLoveSaklan

During the month of February, all Saklan students are focusing on being collaborative. Students are discussing what it means to collaborate and to work as a team. Discussions around taking turns, listening to each other, and supporting each other can be heard across campus!

#SaklanSEL

A summer of creative exploration awaits your child during Summer@Saklan! This summer, camp will run in one-week sessions from June 17th – August 2nd, and is open to all children ages 3 – entering 3rd grade. Each session of camp consists of fun art and science-related activities including: art, crafts, cooking, science experiments, games, and more. Additionally, Friday afternoons will feature fun activities including water play, a bounce house, and special guests such as a magician or puppeteer. Summer@Saklan is sure to be tons of fun!

To learn more about Summer@Saklan 2024, check out the summer webpage today!

We look forward to another amazing summer of hands-on learning, growing friendships and lots of fun!

On Monday, Saklan’s 1st – 8th graders gathered in Family Groups to discuss January’s SEL focus, being respectful. The students shared what being respectful feels, looks and sounds like.

Each family group leader placed a large R on a note card, representing Respect, and then talked about what respect looks like when it comes out of one’s mouth, including the words, tone, facial expressions and even body language. Next, a volunteer squeezed toothpaste on the R to help freshen it up. Then, the volunteer was surprised to learn that the R actually stood for Rude, and was asked to put the toothpaste back into the tube – a near impossible task, just as taking disrespectful and hurtful works back can be. The families then discussed how to clean up such a mess. Groups talked about making an honest apology, checking in with the person to see what they need to feel better, and finding ways to do better in the future.

The 8th graders then shared that respect often comes when people feel like they are seen and know one another. Students then each added items to a snowflake to represent them and their interests, and then shared them with their family group, to learn more about each other. The snowflakes are now hanging on the bulletin board by the entrance to Saklan; check them out to learn more about other members of our community.

#SaklanSEL #SaklanCommunity

On Wednesday morning, the Saklan preschool – seventh grade students participated in Moving Up Day. For the preschool – 5th grade students, they had the opportunity to move up to the classroom of their rising grade and spend time with the teacher, learning about what the next year holds and getting to know the teacher better. The 6th and 7th grade students (and a few 8th graders) helped host 5th grade students on the middle school side of campus and show them what a day in the life of a middle schooler is like. The students and teachers alike were buzzing with excitement!

This annual tradition allows the students to get a snapshot of what next year will hold. The teachers planned special activities that highlighted their grade level and enjoyed getting to know their rising students a little better. Morning meeting activities, awkward games, questions, stories, tangrams, classroom scavenger hunts, and enthusiasm for next year filled the classrooms! If you know a child that “moved up” on Wednesday, please ask them all about it. They will likely have something enthusiastic to share!

Sixth grade math students are exploring probability. They recently investigated the role that the number of trials plays in the relationship between experimental and theoretical probability.

Mr. Zippin started the lesson by telling the sixth graders that he would be spinning a mystery spinner. He asked, “What do you need to know to figure out what the mystery spinner looks like?”

They answered that they would need to know what colors were on the spinner and the size of each sector. Instead of answering, Mr. Zippin spun the spinner once and announced “Green!” and asked “Do you think you have enough information to draw the spinner now?” The consensus was no, unless the spinner was all green.

Mr. Zippin then spun the spinner 5 more times and had the students keep track of the results. They then drew what they thought the spinner looked like after 6 spins. He spun the spinner 6 more times and again stopped. The students discussed with their teams what the spinner looked like and then drew the spinner based on the new information they received.

As a class, the sixth graders discussed when they thought they would have enough information to draw an exact spinner. There was a large range of opinions from 24 to 100. Mr. Zippin spun the spinner 36 more times for a total of 48 and had the students draw their final predictions of the spinner.

Then, the class looked at the spinner Mr. Zippin had spun and the teams discussed which of their predicted spinners was closest to the actual spinner. They noticed how the actual occurrences of each color compared to their theoretical predictions. As they spun the spinner more times, the experimental outcomes got closer to the theoretical probability. Take a look at the included pictures and see if you can guess what the Mystery Spinner looked like!

#HandsOnMath

All 4th – 8th graders who are interested in playing basketball are encouraged to join the Basketball Club which will meet on the Sports Court from 3:00 – 3:30 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays beginning next week.

The Basketball Club will participate in 2 games to be held in February:

• Tuesday, February 13th  against the Contra Costa Jewish Day School Grizzlies on the Saklan Sports Court at 4 p.m.
• Tuesday, February 20th at Contra Costa Jewish Day School at 4 p.m.

Students who want to play in the games are asked to attend as many Basketball Club meetings as possible.

Reach out to Mr. Crabtree with any questions you have.

#SaklanWellRounded

Receiving over 60% of the votes, Peace, Love, Saklan will be the theme of the 2024 auction! Thank you to everyone who participated in the selection process.

The Saklan faculty and staff are very excited, and we hope you are too! Peace, Love, Saklan pairs well with our focus on belonging, is a nod to the sixty-nine years that Saklan has been a school, and ties in nicely with this year’s concert theme of Love.

Volunteers Needed

We are in need of volunteers to help make this year’s auction successful. We have roles big and small, including:

• Picking up Items from Donors
• Auction Items Acquisitions
• Creating Event Decor
• Designing a Logo for the Event
• Event Set Up
• Communications

We would love your help; click on the button below to volunteer!

Save the Date!

Please save the date to celebrate our great school and community with our Peace, Love, Saklan auction on Friday, April 26th at The Garden in Walnut Creek. Book your babysitter now for this adults-only event; you don’t want to miss it!